Calling General Practice Nurses in South-East Queensland to Participate in the APCOM Trial

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is the 5th leading cause of death in Australia and frequently occurs in the context of multiple long-term conditions or multimorbidity.

The Activating Primary Care COPD Patients with Multimorbidity (APCOM) Trial is a randomized controlled clinical trial that aims to test a personalised self-management support program, to be delivered by Practice Nurses (PNs) to patients with COPD and other long-term health conditions.

The trial will evaluate whether this program is effective in improving quality of life, increasing patient knowledge of COPD and can be effectively implemented in primary care.

The APCOM Trial is being conducted by Bond University, UNSW Sydney, University of Queensland, Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, University of Wollongong Australia and University of Sydney in collaboration with Lung Foundation Australia, Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (Ethics Approval No.SA02927).

What do you need to do?

• If your general practice participates in the trial, you will be required to conduct a medical record search, identify and invite eligible patients to participate; the research team will provide guidance regarding this process. At least 1 PN, 1 GP and 8 patients are required to participate from each practice.
• If your practice is allocated to the control group of the trial, you will not be required to do anything else during the course of the trial after recruiting eligible patients.
• If your practice is allocated to the intervention group, the PN will be required to attend online training, deliver the self-management program to participating patients in 5 personalized health coaching sessions and make brief monthly follow-up phone calls for 3 months following the last session. A joint webinar will be conducted for PNs and GPs to discuss smooth collaboration and facilitation of the program in the practice. A refresher webinar will be held for PNs mid-way through the program.

Recompense for participating in the trial

• All participating practices will be provided a token amount of $500 each for staff time to undertake a medical record search and invite eligible patients.
• Practices in the intervention group will receive $60/hour for the PN’s time towards training and delivering the self-management program.
• All participating patients will receive a $50 shopping voucher each towards completing the study questionnaires at four time points throughout the duration of the trial.

In addition to the above, PNs and GPs from all participating practices can claim CPD points towards their involvement in the trial.

How to get involved?

• If you wish to participate or have any queries, please the Lead Investigator Professor Nick Zwar at nzwar@bond.edu.au or 07-5595 5499, or the trial manager Dr Sameera Ansari at sameera.ansari@unsw.edu.au
• Interested general practices are welcome to sign up for participation in the trial until June 2023